John Stupp

Ode to a Nightingale

after John Keats

My heart achesand a numbness pains
my sensesin other wordsthe Pittsburgh boxer Fritzie Zivic
was having a rough go against Henry Armstrongin the glare of
Madison Square GardenOctober 4, 1940Homicide Hank was just too
toughtoo fasttoo experiencedthat’s why he was the champ
and the baying crowd knew itFritzie’s blood was everywhereexcept
where it was supposed to behis gloves untouchedI was afraid to
fight dirtyI was afraid my reputation would cost mehe told Red
Smith after the fightI had to fight cleanthen in the 7th round
Henry head butted Fritziestarted giving him elbowsstarted giving
him the businessso the ref says to the both of themif you guys
want to fight that wayit’s ok with methat was the break our boy
neededthou was not born for death immortal Pittsburgh!
by round 10Henry was bleeding from both eyesthe result of
unpleasant encounters with thumbs and lacesas choirboy Fritzie
hammered him with low blows and uppercutsuntil the champ hit the
canvas in the 15th roundlike a drunk on wet pavementwas it a
vision or a waking dream?I’ll settle on a visionback in
Pittsburgh the millworkers and machinistsup and down the valley
sang like songbirds from that day forth

John Stupp

Art Class

They saidat ringsideHarry Grebthe
smaller manfrom Pittsburghhad no peripheral visionhad only
one eyeand for that reason found it necessaryto disclose his
location all of a sudden and forcefullyto heavyweight Gene
Tunneyon May 23, 1922in Madison Square Gardenbreaking his
nose in two places in round onethen severing an artery above his
eyethere was so much of Tunney’s blood in the ringHarry had to
wipe his gloves off so he could continue hittingthe New Yorker
unimpededround after round the referee helped by handing him a
towel and a brusheasy likeso as not to separate the student
from his canvasnewly createdand the many pigments of color he
could not name

JOHN STUPP's third poetry collection Pawleys
Island was published in 2017 by Finishing Line Press. His
manuscript Summer Job won the 2017 Cathy Smith Bowers Poetry
Prize and will be published in 2018 by Main Street Rag. He lives near
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.